A contentious legal decision has sparked outrage and debate in the UK, after Moussa Kadri, 59, received a suspended prison sentence for attacking a protester who was burning a Koran. The incident occurred on February 13 outside the Turkish consulate in Knightsbridge, where activist Hamit Coskun, 51, was holding a flaming Islamic text aloft while shouting 'f*** Islam', 'Islam is religion of terrorism', and 'Koran is burning'. Kadri emerged from a residential building, threatened to kill Mr. Coskun, and then returned to slash at him with a bread knife, an attack captured on camera.

Despite the graphic footage, Judge Adam Hiddleston handed Kadri a 20-week prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, along with a requirement to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work and 10 days of rehabilitation. Kadri had told police he was protecting his religion, a statement reportedly considered a mitigating circumstance in court. He pleaded guilty to assault and having a bladed article in a public place. During the trial, the judge acknowledged that the way Kadri lost his temper was 'disgraceful' and called the 'use of blades a curse on our community'.

Mr. Coskun, who is half Kurdish and half Armenian, expressed profound disappointment and anger, claiming the decision highlights a 'two-tier justice system' in Britain. Speaking exclusively to the Daily Mail, he stated, 'We are faced with double standards when it comes to dealing with Islamists in the UK. This decision was a morale boost for Islamists. It's a disgrace to the rule of law.' He argued that if his attacker had not been Muslim, imprisonment would have been certain, and that the case signifies an erosion of free speech, where 'criticising Muslims has been made a crime' and 'Islamophobia is being used as a weapon to silence and intimidate people'. Coskun narrowly avoided a throat injury by stepping back during the knife attack.

Adding to the controversy, Hamit Coskun himself was convicted in June at Westminster Magistrates Court of a religiously aggravated public order offence for burning the Koran, with an appeal pending. District Judge John McGarva found his actions 'highly provocative' and 'motivated at least in part by a hatred of Muslims', rejecting Coskun's argument that his criticism was of Islam in general. This conviction, coupled with Kadri's suspended sentence, has prompted campaigners to warn against a potential return of blasphemy laws in the UK, an assertion denied by the Government.

The decision to spare Kadri jail has drawn widespread criticism from free speech advocates and politicians. Toby Young, General Secretary of the Free Speech Union, warned that it 'sends a green light to any Muslim who wants to enforce an Islamic blasphemy by taking the law into their own hands'. Stephen Evans, chief executive of the National Secular Society, emphasized that 'free expression should never be met with violence' and that 'criticism or destruction of religious texts, however offensive to some, is a legitimate form of protest'. Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick and Shadow Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho also condemned the ruling, questioning why tougher charges were not brought and drawing comparisons between lenient sentences for violent acts and harsher penalties for online comments.